Green Flash Imperial IPA

Brewed By: Green Flash Brewing Co. in San Diego, California

Purchased: Single 22oz bomber from Binny's in Illinois; 2011

Style/ABV: Imperial/Double IPA, 9.4%

I am in the process of alienating my own blog with the absence of any stouts. I swear there will be stouts on the horizon, including some Old Rasputin and something from Goose Island. In the meantime I have some Imperial IPAs on my hands that need to be consumed, because IIPAs are best consumed fresh!

So today's beer is one of the aforementioned IIPAs, or Imeprial IPAs. Imperial IPAs are - as far as I can tell - an American craft beer innovation that pushes the beer envelope by adding more hops to your standard IPA recipe. There is no functional benefit to adding more hops to an IPA other than to flex big hop muscles. So Imperial IPAs (or "IIPAs" or "Double IPAs" as I often call them) are pretty much hop bombs for hop heads. I happen to be a huge hop head, so I say bring on the extreme beer.

Green Flash Brewing's Imperial IPA looks very similar to their IPA in terms of what is on the bottle. The Green Flash West Coast IPA is one of my absolute favorite IPAs, and I have had it several times since discovering it. It is super aromatic, dank and funky, punchy, and hoppy. It is a really vibrant beer, a Divine Brew, and would easily be in my top-IPA list. The Green Flash Brewing website is well designed and looks great. They have a great section discussing all of their beers, including today's IIPA. Today's beer uses Summit and Nugget hops, clocks in at an impressive 9.4% ABV, and packs a walloping 101 IBUs.

One thing you might notice when looking at the beers offered by Green Flash Brewing is that they have won a fair number of awards for their beer. Green Flash Brewing has only been around since 2002 and only puts out about 14,000 barrels annually, but they seem to be on the rise and their beer is top-notch stuff. So let's dig in and see how this IIPA tastes.

Green Flash Brewing Co.

Damn this smells good...I want to drink this, but I owe it to myself and to the 4 people who read this blog the courtesy of describing what I see and smell. This beer has a gorgeous and warm body. It is orange with hints of copper, but it is definitely brighter than a lot of IPAs. There is a big pillowy head on here as well, which I find surprising given the giant ABV. The head started at 3-fingers and has mellowed down to about half a finger's worth. The head is leaving epic lacing along my glass. The head is slightly off-white, with hints of eggshell or orange. The body of this beer is murky, and it looks like there may be some sediment drifting around. I would guess this is unfiltered. There is moderate carbonation as well.

But dammmmn! This smells good! Drink this fresh if you like hops. I am getting blasted with waves of sweet citrus. Huge tangerine, sweet oranges, and even tropical fruits like pineapple and mango DOMINATE the nose. There is a strong herbal earthy quality as well, and that herbal note is playing off the citrus notes to give off something like a fresh lemon. I squeeze fresh lemons all the time, and I swear I am getting an awesome lemon citrus note. There are lots of earthy, herbal, tea-like flavors coming off the nose, and the aromas are fresh and awesome. I'm not getting any malt, but there is a hint of booze on the nose. Let's see if that shows up in the taste!

Wow, that herbal-tea-lemon component is really swinging through in the flavor. The body is a lot more smooth than I expected, even featuring some resiny or malty notes. This is a lot more resiny and oily as opposed to the straight up dank notes I was getting in the West Coast IPA. This is also much more...dirty...than say, the Firestone Walker Double Jack. That's not a bad thing. See, the Double Jack is like a guy in a suit, or a 5-star restaurant where you need to show up in a tuxedo; and the Green Flash IIPA is like your awesome pot smoking roommate who is funny as hell, or a greasy slice of authentic Chicago pizza. This beer is delicious BECAUSE it is resiny, oily, and potent.

The 101 IBUs are showing up, for sure, but the oily/malty complexion and the big ABV keep this beer grounded. This one goes down pretty easy, even though it shouldn't. But again, I am puckering, and this beer is finishing bone dry.

Let's talk specific notes I am getting in this beer: There is pine, for sure. I'm actually getting a decent amount of bubblegum in this one as well as some hints towards Pepto-bismol. That's surprising because I'm not big on pulling bubblegum out of IPAs. There is quite a bit of herbal, earthy notes: I'm getting lemon and orange tea. I'm getting big punchy grapefruit rind and orange rind, but with a subtle alcohol sweetness. Perhaps the note could be described as orange liquor. It's really good. I'm also getting the infamous "cat pee" note. I could write up a whole post on the cat pee note, but all you need to know is that it is a description frequently used to describe IIPAs.

se. This is highly drinkable, as an IIPA should be. But caution to the new beer drinker: this is an IIPA. If you hate bitter things, or things with hops, stay away from this beer!!!! The front end of this beer is all about the textures: the beer morphs from clean and carbonated into something big, mean, oily, and resiny. You get your first hop punch between the front and the middle: it is an earthy, herbal one. You also start to feel the alcohol and the bitterness. The back end rolls the rest of the hop flavors at you, including citrus and bubblegum. This beer is smooth from front to back, and finishes bone dry with bitterness that hangs around. This beer is excellent.

Green Flash Imperial IPA

Rating: Above-Average

Score: 89%

The resiny, herbal, earthy quality to this beer is a serious winner. If you are a hardcore tea drinker, I would say give this beer a swing. This beer goes above and beyond in almost every single way, so why not the divine rating? There are two reasons, one is on the beer and one is on me. 

Let's talk about the beer first. In terms of complexity, this beer has an outstanding palate. There are so many interesting flavors from herbal notes, to citrus, to pine, to bubblegum. The mouthfeel is impressive too, and the beer evolves nicely as it works across your palate. Still, despite being full-body and pretty heavy in terms of drinkability, this beer reaches medium-depth. I just feel like this beer is reaching for something...and just not quite hitting it. I'm not sure what that is.

So it comes down to me. Right now I've only had a few IIPAs in my lifetime. This is certainly one of the better ones, and this is so damn good I will buy it again and I will revisit it in the future. I hope that after I try 20 IIPAs I will have a better frame of reference. For example, the West Coast IPA blew me away: it is dank, funky, and fun. That's an IPA I would take to my deserted island. I'm undecided this Green Flash IIPA is worthy of desert island status.

To conclude: DAMN. This beer smells great. It tastes really good too. The 101 IBUs kick ass and are completely welcome. This beer is herbal, earthy, and packs a mean lemon tea note. The mouthfeel is oily and resiny and in the best way possible. This is another excellent beer from Green Flash Brewing Co., so check them out and check this beer out.